Nuuk Ilulissat summer Cruise

Your adventure stay will start in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. Afterwards, a impressive boat trip across the west coast and Disko Bay will take us to the gigantic icebergs that surround Ilulissat city, from where we will undertake other activities such as the Guided City Tour or a short boat trip to reach a isolated Inuit settlement. For the last day, there is a range of optional excursions (not included in the price) appropriate to different preferences.

As trip Highlights:

Discover the Norse history at Nuuk.

Witnessing northern lights, the “Dance of the Sky”, from one of the world’s most special areas (since mid August).

Visiting of some Greenlandic settlements, such as Nuuk, Ilulissat and Ilimanaq

Sighting of local fauna such as arctic hares, whales and seals...

Discover in Ilulissat, the most productive Glacier in the Northern Hemisphere: a World Heritage.

Experience a boat tour to Ilimanaq sailing among massive icebergs of Ilulissat Icefjord…

Unforgettable passengers’ boat trip, through the Greenlandic west coast, from Ilulissat to Nuuk

Day 1. Flight to Nuuk

Arrival to Nuuk airport and transfer to the hotel for check-in and guided visit to the National Costume Workshop before enjoy a "kaffemik". This visit will take almost 2 hours 30 min. Together with the guide, you will walk down to the workshop where the Greenlandic National Costume are made. From here, you will walk towards the home of a local family for a "Kaffemik" where coffee, tea and homemade cake will be offered.

Nuuk city centre is very dynamic. There are plenty of shops and restaurants. Also you can visit and bathe in the only swimming pool in Greenland: Malik Nuuk Swimming. This is the most beautiful swimming pool in all of the Nordic countries, with panoramic views to the fiord and surrounding mountains. Accommodation at Hotel. Small apartment with private facilities.

Day 2. Discovering by yourself Nuuk area and surrounding mountains. Optional excursions.

Although Nuuk represents the biggest city in Greenland, there are different hiking trails that you can do perfectly by yourself. Just close to the airport area there are two famous hiking routes that allow you to discover the beautiful and natural landscape. The routes are called “Lille Malene” and “Stort Malene”. You only need to buy a trekking map in which you will see the details of the itineraries.

There are also different optional excursions that could be hired:

Fjordsafari 4 hours. The boat tour sails in the fiord of Nuuk, where you will get a chance to view the colorful houses from seaside. The captain and the guide actively hold a look out for whales and maybe with the help of the passengers, you might spot some of this big mammals.

Duration: 4 hours (approx.) Price: 650 DKK (90€)

Boat tour to the Icefiord (lunch included). A Targa boat takes us to Kangersuneq/Icefiord through Qoornoq passage. After about two hours boat tour, we get the mound of Kangersuneq/Icefiord, where we have the view of Narsap Sermia glacier. After the lunch we will continue to Qoornoq, an abandoned settlement. In Qoornoq you can walk around and get a feeling of how life was here in the past.

Duration: 7 hours (approx.) Price: 1500 DKK (205€)

Accommodation at Hotel. Small apartment with private facilities.

Days 3, 4 and 5. Cruise among icebergs from Nuuk to Ilulissat

Transfer from the hotel to the harbor. The Sarfaq Ittuk is the only boat that Greenlandic use to move between Ilulissat and Narsaq (Southern Greenland) and this cruise will be an excellent opportunity to discover a part of the Greenlandic western coast. Indeed, the sea has always been the primary way to get around in Greenland and this cruise is the best chance to travel as –and along with– the local population... For the locals, this is a lifeline to family and a pleasant break while travelling. However, for the traveller, a sea travel is the chance to see some of the most beautiful places in the world: icebergs near the Ilulissat Icefjord (included in the Unesco World Heritage list since 2014), breathtaking Disko Bay and Greenland western coast, and all the main cities including Sisimiut (where the boat makes a stop for several hours), Maniitsoq and other settlements in between... This is not a luxury cruise... It’s much more!

Accommodation will be in double cabin with private shower and toilet.

Day 5. Ilulissat city tour

Visit of the city with a guide who will describe the history of Ilulissat and its buildings. The tour will start from the old part of town where there are the buildings of the first Danish settlement with the harbour, the church and the museum.

Accommodation at Hotel. Twin / Double room with private facilities.

Day 6. Boat Tour to the settlement of Ilimanaq

Ilimanaq is a settlement in the Municipality of Qasigiannguit (south of Ilulissat) with a population of 80 inhabitants. The settlement was founded around 1741 and the community’s main occupations are still hunting and fishing. The boat tour to Ilimanaq is an opportunity to visit this old and almost untouched inuit settlement and, at the same time, sail among the massive icebergs that lay at the mouth of the Ilulissat Icefjord.

The boat leaves Ilulissat harbour at 10 am. with direction Ilimanaq. Before reaching the village the boat will cross the famous Ilulissat Icefjord with its massive icebergs. In Ilimanaq you will have a couple of hours where you can visit the village, in particular the little church that was built in 1904. Lunch is included in this second day and, furthermore, will be with a greenlandic family that will cook the traditional dish called "suasast", a soup with rice, vegetables and seal or fish. At 2 pm. the boat will sail back to Ilulissat crossing the icefjord again. Arrival in Ilulissat is around 4 pm.

Accommodation at Hotel. Twin / Double room with private facilities.

Day 7. Optional excursions in Ilulissat area

Days at leisure in Ilulissat for optional excursions. Enjoy Ilulissat area landscape and discover Greenlandic culture through several activities.

Accommodation at Hotel. Twin / Double room with private facilities.

Optional excursions are:

Trekking to the Sermermiut valley: guided tour to an area where 3 different cultures of Inuit fishermans and hunters families settled almost 4000 years ago. The short trekking starts from the old heliport and it will take you to the icefjord where you can admire huge icebergs.

Duration: 3 hours (approx.) Price: 325 DKK (44€)

Boat tour to Rodebay: the excursion to Rodebay is the perfect choice if you are interested in visiting a greenlandic little settlement with its coloured houses and having a sailing tour admiring the landscape and the icebergs of the Disko bay area. The boat journey takes approximately 1,5 hours to get to the village. Once at the village you will be able to visit the settlement and have lunch at the restaurant H8 or a kaffe-mik at one of the local families (optional). The boat will leave Rodebay at 2 pm. to sail back to Ilulissat.

Duration: 5 hours (approx.) Price: 800 DKK (110€)

Helicopter Tour: the helicopter tour is a unique opportunity to visit the Jakobshavn Glacier or Sermeq Kujalleq (in Greenlandic) which is the is a large glacier in West Greenland. It is located at the end of the Ilulissat icefjord approx 56 km from the city of Ilulissat. The Sermeq Kujalleq front is about 10km wide and 1 km high. It produces 46km3 equal to 63 billion tons of ice (12% of the USA yearly water consume) and produces around 10% of all Greenland icebergs. It is also the fastest glacier in the north hemisphere with 38 metres per day. The helicopter tour takes off from Ilulissat airport and it reaches the south part of the glacier (Kujalleq) in about 35 minutes flying over the city and the 56km long fjord. It lands by the glacier for about 30 minutes before returning to Ilulissat. Operation depend on weather and helicopter capacity.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes (approx.) Price: 3,500 DKK (480€)

Boat tour to Eqi Sermia Glacier: the Eqi Sermia Glacier (100 meters high and 5 kilometers from edge to edge) is located 100 km north of Ilulissat. It’s called the “calving glacier” because ice breaks off from it more frequently than other glaciers. It is also the easiest place from which you can get onto the inland ice. The tour starts from Ilulissat harbor around 8 am. The boat journey to the glacier depends on the sea conditions but it’s approximately 4 hours. At the glacier the boat stops approx 500 metres from it and there you will have time to admire the calving while drinking a cup of coffee. Lunch will be served at the restaurant in Ataa (a small Inuit settlement that was abandoned in 1960). In Ataa, there will be approx 2 hours where guests can have lunch and visit the settlement. Return to Ilulissat is expected around 6 pm.

Duration: 9 hours 30 minutes (approx.) Price per person: 1,995 DKK (275€) The price includes lunch and the transfer by bus from the accommodation to the harbor and return.

Kaffe-Mik: is a Greenlandic way of celebrating birthdays, weddings or confirmations but kaffe-miks are also organised as “get together”. The Greenlanders open their homes to family and friends for a cup of coffee and home made cakes. Sometimes they are proper buffet with fish and meat.

Duration: 2 hours (approx.) Price: 150 DKK (21€)

Fishing tour: during the summer we can experiment fishing tours in Ilulissat and in the Disko bay area. There are different fishing techniques, location and periods depending on the fish.

Duration: 5 hours (approx.) Price: 1,195 DKK (163€)

Whale Safari: in the summer months many species of whales migrate to the cooler waters of the Disko bay area. If you sail in this area in the months of July and August you have huge chances to see these big mammals swimming around and, if you are lucky, jumping out of the water. The most common whales that you can meet on the whale safari tour are Humpbacks and Fin Whale but also Sei Whale, Blue Whale and the Bowhead Whale, known as Greenland Right Whale or Arctic Whale. This last specie spends all of its life in Arctic waters.

Duration: 5 hours (approx). Price: 900 DKK (123€)

IMPORTANT: The indicated prices are per person unless otherwise stated. Prices may change without prior notice due to specific conditions at the time and place of the excursion. Please note that not all excursions are available during every tour-programme that includes this destination. Please contact with us to get more information.

Day 8: Flight Ilulissat – Reykjavik (Domestic Airport) / Copenhagen

Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to the airport and check in for the return flight to Iceland or Denmark.

Including

- Transfer from the airport to the Hotel and from the Hotel to the harbour, in Nuuk

- Transfers from the harbour to the Hotel and from the Hotel to airport, in Ilulissat

- Accommodation 2 nights at Hotel in Nuuk, breakfast not included

- Accommodation 3 nights and breakfast in Ilulissat (hotel)

- Guide in included excursions in Ilulissat and Nuuk

- City tour at Nuuk

- Kaffemik in Nuuk

- Boat transfers and excursions in Greenland, as detailed in this program

- Boat tour to Ilimanaq (Ilulissat)

- City tour at Ilulissat

Not including

- Guide in Ilulissat and Nuuk

- Airport taxes and fees (approx. 145€ from Keflavik and 280€)

- Accommodation, food and transfers in Reykjavik or Copenhagen

- Single room use supplement

- Lunch and dinner not mentioned in “What is included”

- All meals in Nuuk

- Lunch and dinner aboard the passengers’ boat Nuuk – Ilulissat

- Dinners in Ilulissat

- Travel insurance

- Optional excursions* in South Greenland, Nuuk and Ilulissat (see the list below)

- Unexpected expenses as a result of weather conditions (including difficulties due to ice conditions) or flight or boat delays

- Any other aspect not listed in “What is included”

Our commitments

Environmental sustainability. We believe in a responsible tourism with unspoilt nature of Greenland, so all our trips are planned to have the least possible impact on the environment.

Safety. All our guides are expert about Greenland and know when either it is or it is not convinient to carry out an activity. Our safety records are unmatchable.

Local population. Our Inuit Climate Change Patrol ensures the maintanance of Inuit traditions by involving local people in utilization of a sustainable tourism.

Inuit Windsled

To collaborate in the deepest knowledge of the most unfamiliar places on the planet and do so without affecting ecosystems. This is the philosophy that marks the Inuit Windsled Project, the only totally ecological vehicle designed for research in Polar lands.

Based on the ancient knowledge of the Inuit peoples, the Windsled developers have managed to create a means of transportation that combines tradition with modern means through kites that harness aeolian energy.

Inuit Climate Change Patrol;

In Thule today sled dogs are still used and the inhabitants go in search of their livelihood in cloth-lined kayaks, but we are witnessing the last generation of true Inuit hunters. Most of these people are between 45 and 60 years old and the next generation aren’t continuing in these traditions… Are we witnessing the last dynasty of the Kings of Thule?

This fear is the germ of the Inuit Climate Change Patrol, current project led by Ramon Larramendi (founder of Greenland.net)